Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
I've also been to a game and am only a little bit ashamed to admit that I really didn't know what was going on. Not all the time of course, but sometimes there were whistles and I looked at the guys I was with and asked why play stopped...it was a mystery to us all.
The comparison to hockey in Phoenix is a good one I think; as a sort of casual fan I just couldn't get into it, and really just needed more education before I could go to more games. On TV its fine because there is someone to explain things, but live it was lacking for me.
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I think the TV thing is definitely key. I went to a few games (including both the championship games in Calgary) but the second one I understood more having watched it more (tv and in person). I think you are right that most people need to see it on tv with people explaining things, just going to the game could be very very confusing. look at what TSN has done for junior hockey and Canadian football. having games on tv is key but Roughnecks games are never on. They were on a bit more often early in the decade and I think they were doing well, the last few years you see the occasional Rock game on tv, but who in the west cares about Toronto teams?
tough to establish a team here competing against hockey, I wonder how things are going with the Edmonton team?
the culture isn't there yet for lacrosse watching, it did get more kids playing it though.
it's definitely not a money-maker at this point, flying players across the continent to Calgary to play each game, paying for championship rings etc. the games are much more affordable to go to then a Flames game, but just not as popular. If it was on tv more, and if they played more games they might do better attendance wide, garnering more interest.
as for the ingame music etc, I enjoy it as it gives a different feel to a game and tries to keep the fans involved, but it is so different from hockey (good and bad I guess) that it is hard to get the traditional hockey fan to buy in. with a large baby boom generation entering retirement, the demographics probably aren't suited for loud music etc at the games. I enjoy it, but I am a young adult